'Justice has been served': Man convicted of racist beating sentenced to 13 years

Victim DaShawn Horne spent nearly 2 months in a coma after he was beaten with a metal baseball bat

DaShawn Horne, center, flashed smiles after the sentencing hearing of the man who beat him unconscious in January. Julian Tuimauga beat him with a baseball bat at his Auburn home, issuing racial slurs and capturing Horne's lifeless body on video. A judge sentenced 18-year-old Tuimauga to more than 13 years in prison.

DaShawn Horne, center, flashed smiles after the sentencing hearing of the man who beat him unconscious in January. Julian Tuimauga beat him with a baseball bat at his Auburn home, issuing racial slurs and

DaShawn Horne, center, flashed smiles after the sentencing hearing of the man who beat him unconscious in January. Julian Tuimauga beat him with a baseball bat at his Auburn home, issuing racial slurs and capturing Horne's lifeless body on video. A judge sentenced 18-year-old Tuimauga to more than 13 years in prison.

DaShawn Horne, center, flashed smiles after the sentencing hearing of the man who beat him unconscious in January. Julian Tuimauga beat him with a baseball bat at his Auburn home, issuing racial slurs and

'Justice has been served': Man convicted of racist beating sentenced to 13 years

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Nearly 10 months after he was beaten into a coma, DaShawn Horne still requires round-the-clock care.

With his mother, LaDonna Horne, by his side, he continues physical, occupational and speech therapy. He's learning how to brush his teeth and dress himself all over again. He walked into a courtroom Friday afternoon at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent using a cane.

"I'm still here," he said.

He attended the sentencing for the man who beat him, 18-year-old Julian Tuimauga. In August, Tuimauga pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and malicious harassment for pummeling Horne -- a stranger to him -- the morning of Jan. 20 with a metal baseball bat in front of his home, issuing racial slurs while doing so.

Tuimauga was a baseball player at Auburn Riverside High School.

King County Superior Court Judge Julia Garratt sentenced Tuimauga to 13 1/3 years in prison, which is the top of the range allowed by state law.

Supporters of both Horne and Tuimauga packed the courtroom. Tuimauga's family expressed their affection for their son, grandson and brother, but also extended their sympathies to Horne and his family.

"Love will always conquer over hate and that's why DaShawn is still here," LaDonna Horne told the court.

Tuimauga reportedly confronted him and argued with him, reports indicate.

The driver said he heard a "thump" and saw Tuimauga hit Horne twice in the head, prompting the victim to fall to the ground, according to Auburn police.

Tuimauga reportedly said, "This is what happens when you bring black people around here" and continued to beat Horne as the Lyft driver went to park two houses away and call 911. The driver claimed he saw the victim try to get up and walk, but fall to the ground again. Tuimauga shot a 14-second video of Horne's lifeless body, taunting him and hurling racial slurs. He then took the bat and returned to the house.

The sister claimed she did not see the assault, but that her brother broke her bedroom door down and called her "a whore." He also showed her the video he shot of Horne.

Auburn police say they found Horne lying in some rockery in front of the house, breathing but unresponsive. He was bleeding from a head wound and also appeared to have been injured in his jaw, incident reports say. Immediate reports deemed the assault a homicide and authorities called for a homicide-trained prosecutor to visit the scene.

Medics took Horne to Harborview Medical Center, where doctors removed parts of his cranium to relieve the pressure of his swelling brain, according to the incident report. He also suffered an infection near his kidneys due to the bat strikes to his back, court records say.

He reportedly spent nearly two months in a coma at Harborview Medical Center, and a total of more than three months in the hospital, making what prosecutors call a "miraculous recovery." He continues to require crutches or a walker for mobility. As a result of his injuries, he tires easily and mixes up words when he speaks.

After police arrested Tuimauga, he allegedly admitted he assaulted the victim "in a rage" because he believed Horne and his sister had sex. Surveillance video recovered from a neighbor's house reportedly showed Tuimauga talking with the victim with a bat in his hands and the victim "falling into the frame" while unconscious. Police say that Tuimauga struck Horne twice while he was unconscious on the ground.

Federal prosecutors agreed not to pursue a hate crime charge against Tuimauga on the condition that he plead guilty to first-degree assault with a deadly weapons enhancement - which carries a two-year addition to the sentence - and malicious harassment, the state's hate crime statute.

Federal charges would have added years to his sentence, Garratt said.

Senior deputy prosecutor Stephen Herschkowitz played the video Tuimauga shot, which showed Horne face down over landscaping rockery, unmoving and bleeding, while Tuimauga shouted at him. He also showed photos of Horne's recovery in the hospital, starting with him bedridden and intubated to sitting in a wheelchair, wearing a helmet.

Prosecutors asked for the top of the standard range for someone with Tuimauga's lack of criminal history at 13 years in prison, while the defense attorney requested the minimum 10 1/2 years.

Defense attorney Robert Huff admitted that his client's actions were "inexcusable"

"There's absolutely no way to defend what happened here," he said.

However, he said that the assault does not reflect Tuimauga as a person and contended he is not racist. He also argued that his youth and relative immaturity warrants leniency from the court.

"Julian snapped," Huff said. "He was not in control of himself. He handled this in the most horrible way possible."

Tuimauga himself echoed that the racial epithet he repeated in the video is not an indication of his views; he attested that the slur is used in rap music and used broadly among people, even a word he's said since kindergarten.

"I'm not a racist, nor was this a hate crime," he told the court.

He also apologized to Horne and his mother.

Garratt spurned Tuimauga's argument about the words he used.

"Words matter," she said, handing down his sentence. "That's something you need to take away from this incident."

A chorus of "I love you" erupted from Tuimauga's supporters as he was escorted back to jail.

Members of Tuimauga's family hugged Horne and his mother outside the courtroom, with tears and apologies.

"I'm thankful that justice has been served," LaDonna Horne said, adding that she was grateful for the apologies of Tuimauga's family and would keep them in her prayers.

DaShawn Horne mostly kept mum -- expressing himself more with goofy faces and smiles than words -- but his mother, his primary caregiver, said his survival is "truly a miracle."